Older Athletes' Perceived Benefits of Competition

University of Windsor Scholarship at UWindsor Human Kinetics Publications Faculty of Human Kinetics 2011 Older Athletes' Perceived Benefits of Competition Rylee A. Dionigi Joseph Baker Sean Horton University of Windsor Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/humankineticspub Part of the Kinesiology Commons, and the Sports Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Dionigi, Rylee A.; Baker, Joseph; and Horton, Sean. (2011). Older Athletes' Perceived Benefits of Competition. The International Journal of Sport and Society, 2 (2), 17-28. https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/humankineticspub/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty of Human Kinetics at Scholarship at UWindsor. It has been accepted for inclusion in Human Kinetics Publications by an authorized administrator of Scholarship at UWindsor. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Older Athletes’ Perceived Benefits of Competition Rylee A. Dionigi, Charles Sturt University, NSW, Australia Joseph Baker, York University, Ontario, Canada Sean Horton, University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada Abstract: Intense sport competition is typically associated with young people. Also, much of the literature on exercise for older adults focuses on benefits derived from regular physical activity, such as walking, dancing and fitness classes, and suggests that one should avoid extremely strenuous exercise. The rising phenomenon of older people competing in sport presents a challenge to these assumptions. In 2009, approximately 28,000 athletes from 95 countries gathered in Sydney, Australia to compete across 28 different sports at the World Masters Games. We interviewed 44 competitors (23 females, 21 males; aged 56-90 years; M=72) about what they gained from competing in sport that extended beyond non-competitive physical activity outcomes. Five key themes emerged from the data. The first theme, “I like a challenge”, depicts Masters sport as an ideal context to test one’s abilities. In partic- ular, lifelong athletes (or those who had returned to sport after a long break) enjoyed the satisfaction of knowing they “can still do it”! On the other hand, Masters competitions provide space for older people to begin sport in later life, as the second theme highlights, “I discovered that at this age group I could win things”! Theme three, “I’m more motivated to work harder”, describes how regular competitions provided goals for participants which structured their training. Also, the act of competing brought out their best performances. The fourth theme, “You know where you stand”, shows how participants liked that competition enabled them to compare themselves with others of their own age cohort. The final theme, “Travel” and “companionship”, explains how the organized, competitive structure of Masters sport and its club system allowed for regular travel, the establishment of ongoing friendships and weekly social interaction. Our data suggest that sport provides unique benefits to participants above and beyond those gained from general physical activity. Keywords: Sport, Masters Games, Older Adults, Qualitative Research Introduction and Background N THE CONTEXT of aging populations around the world, improving patterns of physical activity involvement in older age groups is an increasingly important concern in industrialized societies. Although most public health advocates focus on the robust Irelationship between involvement in physical activity and prevention of most chronic diseases (for a detailed review see Sallis & Owen, 1999), research also indicates that physical activity and regular exercise have similar positive effects on the maintenance of cognitive and physical functioning both in clinical (e.g., Feinglass, Thompson, He, Witt, Chang, & Baker, 2005) and non-clinical (e.g., Visser et al., 2005) populations. Unfortunately, national population data continue to emphasize the association between advancing age and decreasing physical activity levels. However, one type of physical activity involvement, competitive sport, has increased in popularity over the past two decades (Weir, Baker, & Horton, 2010) The International Journal of Sport and Society Volume 2, Issue 2, 2011, http://sportandsociety.com/journal/, ISSN 2152-7857 © Common Ground, Rylee A. Dionigi, Joseph Baker, Sean Horton, All Rights Reserved, Permissions: [email protected] THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPORT AND SOCIETY and some researchers, particularly sports scientists, have strongly advocated it as an optimal type of activity for older people (e.g., Hawkins, Wiswell, & Marcell, 2003). Although it is difficult to identify the specific ‘birthdate’ of Masters sport, it is generally accepted that its origins were in the United States in the sport of athletics during the 1960s (Weir et al., 2010). The first Masters US Track and Field Championship was held in 1968 with the first World Masters Track and Field Championship in Toronto in 1975. Although starting in athletics, Masters (or Veterans) sport continued to grow in popularity throughout the 1970s and 1980s. By the 1990s, many sporting bodies reported that, in terms of participant numbers, the Masters level was the fastest growing area in their sport (see for example Burns, 1992) and remains one of the fastest expanding sectors of sport (e.g., Dionigi, 2008; Jokl, Sethi, & Cooper, 2004). At the international level, the number of participants competing at the World Masters Games has increased almost four-fold since the inaugural World Masters event in 1985 in Toronto, Canada (Weir et al., 2010). At the Sydney 2009 World Masters Games approximately 28,000 athletes representing 95 countries participated in 28 different sports. There are 50,000 athletes expected at the next World Masters Games in Turin, Italy in August, 2013 (http://www.torino2013.org/). Age (not ability) is the qualifier for participation in Masters sport, with competitors usually ranging in age from 30 years to over 90 years (Weir et al., 2010). In this context, it is accepted that an athlete’s performance will decline with advancing age (Tulle, 2007; 2008). Therefore, Masters sport allows older people to compete against others within a similar age range (typically 5 – 10 years) in a variety of sports at organized local, national or international competitions on a regular basis (Dionigi, 2008). Nevertheless, intense sport competition is typically associated with young people. Sport is often emphasized as an ideal vehicle for the positive development, health and well-being of youth, such as helping participants build competency and character, develop friendships, and contribute to society (see Holt, 2008). More recently, however, researchers have begun exploring competitive sport as an optimal activity for maintenance (and improvement) of health, functioning and identity management among older adults on the basis that the advantages of sport participation apply across the lifespan and extend beyond the benefits of regular exercise (see Baker, Fraser-Thomas, Di- onigi, & Horton, 2010 for a review). We know very little about the value of sport participation on health and functioning of older adults, largely due to the newness of this phenomenon and the relative paucity of older athletes (at least when compared to the majority of people in their age cohort). Furthermore, much of the literature on exercise for older adults focuses on benefits derived from non- competitive activities of low-to-moderate intensity such as walking, dancing and fitness classes, suggesting that one should avoid extremely strenuous exercise. Indeed, the position advocated by Dr. J.W. Bell at the conference of the American Medical Association over 100 years ago that older adults should “…undertake no violent exercise… If they are allowed any outdoor sport at all they should take gentle exercise involving only slow steady move- ments” (Bell, 1899, as cited in Vertinsky, 1991, p. 77) continues to have a large degree of influence, despite a clear lack of evidence supporting its validity. For example, Grant (2001, p. 785) found that older New Zealand Masters athletes had to negotiate attitudes such as “at your age you shouldn’t be doing this” when deciding to begin or continue sports participation in later life. Conversely, some researchers (Hawkins et al., 2003) argue that older (i.e., Masters) athletes are ideal models of ‘successful aging’ because they typically report greater levels of health 18 RYLEE A. DIONIGI, JOSEPH BAKER, SEAN HORTON and functioning than their age-matched sedentary contemporaries. However, much of the literature on Masters sport and older athletes has focused on physiological and psychological health outcomes associated with sustained involvement in regular physical activity (Baker, Horton, & Weir, 2010). Much less research has focused on the meaning competitive sports participation holds in the lives of older people and how sport has the potential for benefits above and beyond those gained from general physical activity. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative study was to determine what a group of World Masters Games competitors gained from competing in sport that extended beyond non- competitive physical activity outcomes. The findings may inform our understanding of per- sonal growth and identity development among older athletes as well as describe the psychosocial processes underpinning continued involvement in an activity with considerable health-preserving qualities. This research may also provide insight into cultural factors

Load more